When did the black bullhead, Ameiurus melas (Teleostei: Ictaluridae), arrive in Poland?      [SHORT COMMUNICATION]

Michał Nowak; Ján Koščo; Paweł Szczerbik; Dominika Mierzwa; Włodzimierz Popek

doi:10.2478/v10086-010-0021-0

Michał Nowak
Ján Koščo
Paweł Szczerbik
Dominika Mierzwa
Włodzimierz Popek

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/v10086-010-0021-0

Keywords: alien fish, Ictaluridae, introduction, invasive species, xenodiversity

Abstract

Abstract. One specimen of the non-native ictalurid catfish the black bullhead, Ameiurus melas, was found in the collection of the Museum and Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, Poland. This finding strongly supports the hypothesis that the black bullhead was co-introduced into Polish waters with the brown bullhead, Ameiurus nebulosus, at the end of the nineteenth century. The species might be distributed widely throughout Poland, thus careful investigation on the identity of the ictalurid catfish population throughout the country should be carried out.

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:

M. Nowak [+], P. Szczerbik, W. Popek
Department of Ichthyobiology and Fisheries
University of Agriculture in Kraków
Prof. Spiczakowa 6, 30-199 Kraków-Mydlniki, Poland
Tel: +48 12 637 51 76, Fax: +48 12 638 59 79
e-mail: mikhael.nowak@gmail.com
J. Koščo
Department of Ecology, University of Prešov, Slovakia
D. Mierzwa
Museum and Institute of Zoology
Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, Poland